Date: Feb 5, 2013 11:16 AM
Author: fom
Subject: Re: how many ways to pick two teams

On 2/5/2013 9:58 AM, Frederick Williams wrote:
> fom wrote:
>
>>
>> The intent of the question was to ask how to solve
>> a combination.  The stated problem was how to
>> choose teams.  Any kid who grew up playing sandlot
>> baseball knows the rules that formed the basis
>> of my remark.  And, order does matter.  The kids
>> who are picked last are painfully aware of their
>> status.
>
> This is the problem with word problems: the words often hint at stuff
> that isn't really there.  The problem might be better stated: "given a
> set of 20 elements..."
>

Always despised the damn things myself.

Years ago, a topology professor or mine related
a story concerning a problem on the SAT college
entrance exams.  Some poor bastard got pissed when
he found out they graded one of his questions
as incorrect.

Built the damn model in 3-d and sent it to them.

They had to rescore an entire year of testing.